I always make cranberry sauce from scratch for Thanksgiving. It’s one of the easiest things to make for the holiday and it’s a key ingredient for turkey-stuffing sandwiches the next day. You can make this a day ahead and bring to room temperature when ready to serve.

Ingredients:

1 cup of water
3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 teaspoon of grated orange zest
dash of orange juice
3 cups of fresh cranberries

1. Get all of your ingredients together in a nice, organized fashion. (That’s called mise en place, which is a good thing to practice. I was a very disorganized cook before I started dating a chef.)
2. Bring the water and sugar to a boil in a small to medium sized pot.
3. Stir until the sugar is dissolved.
4. Add the cranberries and simmer.
5. Stir every so often.
6. Cranberries will start to pop and break open, which is oddly fun and rewarding.
7. Sauce is done after 10 to 12 minutes when it’s thickened and all the cranberries have popped open.
8. Remove from heat.
9. Stir in the dash of O.J. and the orange zest.
10. Let cool down, then serve.

Happy Thanksgiving!